


Rising, Shooting, Falling Star

by Asilyan



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Agender Bill, Aliens, Alternate Universe - Crystal Falls, Dipper has a Secret, Fusion, Gender Confusion, Good Sister Mabel Pines, Musical, Obsessive Dipper Pines, Other, Poetical lyrics, Tolerance, Transgender, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, a lot of it, also masculinity, bill isn't bad just a Homeworld gem, female pronouns bill, gender fluidity, i mean it they sing ok, learning about love, mostly just fluff, neat stuff, neutral pronouns bill, not ominous at all, should be cute, sort of, that's really all there is to say on the matter, there will be kissing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-08 08:03:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7749814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asilyan/pseuds/Asilyan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bill deserts her diamond and Homeworld, goes on a mind-bending infinite road-trip, then gets it cut short by crashing into a long-abandoned planet in the middle of galactic-nowhere, and with an entirely wrecked ship and no working warp pads... is stranded there for the rest of the foreseeable future. And for an alien with a near-immortal life-span, that translates to pretty much forever.<br/>But maybe it's not so bad. Maybe the planet is more inhabited than they thought. Maybe Bill can learn to like it down on Earth. And just maybe, love could be on the cards, and in the stars...</p><p>Also everything gets sung, so that's fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Listening to You/Her/Me

**Author's Note:**

> Most major characters are gems as per Steven Universe. (Credit: Luna Art's Crystal Falls AU).  
> I hope you don't need to know about this to read it, but I don't know how enjoyable it'll be... *cough*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill stares out window, sings at sane friend, damages diamond property, quits job in most bamf way possible, gets this interstellular show on the road of endless ever-expanding outer space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All gems are more or less gender neutral, but Homeworld only knows female pronouns, so yeah! That's what Bill and Tad and every gem uses, at least until later when the human concept of masculinity gets discovered, I guess? Except Dipper, he uses male pronouns from the start. But that's next chapter. Okay.  
> Chapter title is the song of the chapter, though this also includes part of another, "My Own Billmond". Diamonds are synonymous for master/mistress/matriarch. Bill is not one here, but in other AUs he is, and is actually named Billmond, and this is a play on that, so hopefully I just preemptively prevented your great confusion. Uh, hope you make it through the chapter...

A glittering view of the stars above, and the sparkling crystalized city below that put the former to shame. This was the view from her office's transparency pane, currently in the process of being permanently rendered over the surface of her eyeball as she stared without ceasing. Meanwhile, her body continued to sink deeper into the stone-cold chill the couch she lay on offered. She didn't seem to notice she'd been resting entirely motionless on a piece of furniture only barely distinguishable from the table in the room by height. But it wasn't built for comfort and she wasn't built to notice, either.

She was looking out the window like she was seeing the world for the first, or last time. But in reality, it was a sight she'd seen almost invariably for more years than she cared to count. And she was scheduled to remain seeing it for many more to come, with no replacement in sight, not until the proper resources for the forming of her kind or better were acquired again. Until that time, there would be no change, and her duties would proceed uninterrupted presumably for hundreds if not thousands of years.

But suddenly, a soft hum filled the room, issuing from deep down the motionless gem's throat. The gleaming lights from outside shone reflected in her eye, yet it all paled in comparison to brilliant yellow of her iris. Even the bright crystal embedded in the neighboring socket couldn't compete. Of all the gems in this city, Homeworld or any of its colonies, there was nothing that could quite compare to the fire captured in that eye. Even when all she was doing was soaking a room in a slow, descending tune.

Then the door was flung open and the song disturbed, though the gem on the couch remained unaffected.

"Bill, what are you doing?" the intruder wanted to know, hands on her hips.

" **Tad, I've been thinking** ," the gem sung her words, single eye still faithfully on the city and sky, and her expression unchanging.

If the other was surprised, she didn't let on, just rolled her eyes at Bill’s words. "Of course you've been thinking, but Bill, you need to be doing," she reminded pointedly.

Bill snickered, breaking away from the view. "Tad, that's what I've been thinking about," she mocked, and the added, childish aside of, " _haha, dumbass_ ," was only for her own pleasure.

The greener gem looked rightfully annoyed. "Bill!" Yet she seemed resigned enough to humor her. "Now what have you been thinking about doing?" Though not without a snide, " _you idiot_ ," given in return.

Her stoic facade returning, Bill turned back the window, but also rose to her feet as she prepared to give a proper show out of this. She wore a thoughtful look and made a thoughtful tune. " **Being my own Billmond** ," she told the world before her as well as the friend behind her, in a few reticent notes.

"What?" Tad frowned, not intending to join in, but rather hoping to prod the more whimsical gem in the right direction, because Bill would sing about anything and tended to have the attention span of a hyperactive Peridot.

" **I said, being my own Billmond** ," Bill sang again, louder and more confident, although that wasn't a quality she was ever really lacking.

"I heard what you said!" Tad corrected, certainly having never stopped being annoyed from the moment she entered the room- before, even, when she found out about exactly how inactive the executive had been for the past several hours.

Bill smirked like she knew the exact features of the peeved expression Tad wore without turning around, and she likely did. " **I've been thinking about being my own Billmond** ," she answered.

"What does that even mean!" Tad requested, incredulous.

" **It means being my own Billmond!** " Bill declared with a sweep of her cape as she spun around.

A frustrated noise. "Bill, that doesn't make any-"

"Sense? I'm not sensing you listening to me," Bill scoffed, pretending to look affronted, though she wasn't in the least. This was really their standard routine, although the things Bill said were usually more outrageous.

"I am listening to you; you're not listening to me!" Tad complained.

A grin. "Oh, are you listening to me?"

"God damnit Bill I'm listening to you!" It was hard to tell for sure whether Tad was more exasperated or amused, but all bets were on the former.

"Then I want you to know: **I've been thinking** ,” Bill begun again, but this time with a smile still on her face.

“ **I know you've been thinking** ,” Tad answered with something suspiciously melodic, although she was glowering all the way.

The blonde’s smile widened, pleased. “ **Been thinking 'bout me**.”

“You're always thinking 'bout you,” Tad snarked, quickly dropping the tune.

“ **Been thinking 'bout you, too** ,” continued Bill, with an extravagant gesture of acknowledgement, provoking the other to curtesy in jest.

“What've you been thinking, 'bout me?” Although past experience had taught her Bill would just never get on with her work until she belted it out of her system, Tad knew this gem, and knew her well, and so she was genuinely curious as to what was going on with her this time. Whatever it was, it was bound to be authentic. There wasn’t another gem out there quite like Bill.

“ **I'm going to sing it to you**.”

“Alright, sing it to me!”

"Are you ready?" Bill teased, sliding in close until they were really face to face.

"Whenever you are,” Tad raised her eyebrows in challenge.

Bill assured her, voice falsely sing-song; "I'm ready."

"I am too.” Tad was simultaneously smiling and grinding her teeth audibly.

"Here it comes!"

At that point the green gem tore her hands through her blocky, mottled hair, looking on the verge of a serious aneurysm. “Fucking _hell_ Bill if you don't get out with it right this instant I swear I'll sic the nightmare crew on-“

“ **I'm sick of listening to you!** ”

“What?! _Pyrite!_ ” Tad naturally looked affronted.

Bill just leered over her, superior height making it easy to force the other into leaning away. "Yes, Tad?" She batted her single eye with a pretty presence of chastity.

“You stop this right now!” she protested, albeit it rather half-heartedly. Tad _knew_ what she was like.

Sure enough; “ **I'm not listening to you** ,” Bill trilled, and with a mischievous grin, leaped up onto the table, kicking off an array of communication octahedrons and other various crystal technologies of the like with a careless boot.

Now tapping out a beat against the top of the table, she picked up the tempo and launched it with a chorus. “ **See I've been listening to _her_ , and I've been listening to you. Doing what I've been told, because that's all I ever knew.**” Tad drew back, surprised. “ **But I've been listening some more, now I've been listening to ME** ,” she jabbed a finger at her own chest, where the emblem of the diamond lay. Bill sounded oddly insistent, still she never failed to keep her grin. “ **And something in me, told me something love-ly, it said: Listening is old, and I want something new!** ” So saying, she jumped off the desk with a loud thump.

Tad took a deep breath, and her eyes were narrowing as she began to digest these words. Always one to be quick on her feet, and with her tongue, the adviser soon had a few of her own, and brought them out with steadily building conviction. “ **Your words, they're unbelievable. Your thoughts, they're inconceivable; your round appendages have gone off track, your flight path is wrong and bang out of whack** ,” she mimed the resulting crash, “ **And if you act on this 'song'** ,” her lips tightened into a sneer, as she threatened; “ **there'll be no going back**!”

But her friend only grew her smirk a further inch more. "Oh, I know."

“ **Bill, I swear you're cracked** ,” Tad groaned.

On hearing those words, no gem could help but show the slightest alarm. "Am I?!"

"You will be!" Tad warned, feeling a dark frenzy like hysteria rising inside herself in response to just hearing this crazy kid’s maddening words. Not for the first time, she wondered with disbelief, how could this be Yellow Diamond’s- If ever there was an unsuitable gem… But she forced this tide down, growing calmer than before, and persuasive in tone. “ **Bill, you have to listen to me** -“ she sang.

“ **And by that you mean listen to her** ,” Bill cut in, a sharp look in her eye.

“ **And yes, you need to listen to her** ,” Tad agreed evenly. She started to approach with a slow, cautious step.

“ **I'm sick of listening to her** ,” countered Bill.

“ **You need to listen to our diamond** ,” sighed Tad. She reached Bill’s side only for the gem to turn away.

Bill plugged her ears with her fingers. “ **I'm not listening to you!** ”

Tad placed an arm around the taller, slighter gem’s shoulders. “ **You know she's your diamond too** ,” she reminded for what felt like the hundredth time, although this argument was entirely new.

“ **Oh that just won't do** ,” Bill remarked, shrugging at the arm, though it held fast for now.

“ **But she's the boss of us all** ,” Tad sang candidly, to which Bill muttered a small, “Speak for yourself,” before Tad finished with, “ **And she's the boss of you**.”

There was another loud thump then to add to the music as Bill sprung away, this time to a rare specimen of a high-backed chair, designed for very expressly for looking impressive, or more specifically, for making the person who sat on it look impressive, whether they needed it or not. The chair was yellow, of course, and the person who sat in it usually was Bill. Naturally, it wasn’t something she needed.

Though with one foot perched on the backrest’s rim, the other leg dangerously long and straight, and her back bent just enough forward to give the impression that she was a predator that might at any moment pounce... With such sharp features, it would take one hard gem not to admit to trembling in the slightest.

Of course, Bill’s jolly, animated lyrics and accompanying dance might throw anyone off. “ **But if I steer my own course, if we can go our own ways. We can get a divorce, I won't need'ta do as she says** ,” spreading her arms out broadly, Bill’s eye was wide as if to say, ‘just imagine!’

"You idiot, it's not like working for her is some weird kind of 'nonobligatory contract' that can be opted out of!" Tad berated her, and Bill just sighed mournfully in response;

"Aw, if only." Bill resumed her chorus, but with a strange sadness leaking in, an emotion Tad was wholly unaccustomed to coming from Bill, and it truly shocked to the core. “ **I'm sick of listening to her, and I'm sick of listening to you. Doing what I've been told, because that's all that I knew. But now I've been listening some more, now I've been listening to me; And something in me told me something funny, it said: Listening is fake, and I want something true** ,” the last note was held, with a strange kind of desperation glinting in Bill’s bright yellow eye, until with a gasp it wasn’t, and the music that was keeping Tad entranced fell apart.

She shook her head, growling in frustration. “ **Say you say as you could do, and you do as you say; And you somehow succeed** ,” she threw an arm out wildly, just to indicate clearly what she thought of that probability, “ **and you go your own way. Then where would you go, and what would you do; Even you have to know, what I'm saying is true** ,” her distress was returning, as her tune had weakened and she was closer to shouting the lyrics; “ **Your 'plan' is all faux, this isn't thought through!** ”

Bill had started to look bored with Tad’s singing, but now she lightened up, slipping off the big chair of the room and returning to her duet partner. "Well now, you just listen to me.” She prodded the stouter gem in the ribs, to a satisfyingly squeaky reaction.

The green gem recoiled back and glared. "Oh, I'm listening to you!" Under her breath, she mumbled, “ _Pyrite, you crazy clod_...”

Even Bill looked a bit taken aback. "Tad..." Then a measured, calculating look took over her face again, and she sung, false flattery coming on strong; “ **You're steady, you're so reliable. A solid gem, you're so employable**.” Whereas before, she’d mostly been directed towards the room and the world, performing not to Tad, but for everything else, with her as just a convenient spectator, this time Bill held Tad’s gaze undividedly with her own. “ **But for all the mineral in me I can't comprehend; how one can bear to back down and to bend, your entire existence to one such as her** , because I can't, and you must understand!” she broke away in the midst of her song for an impassioned outburst, something the other had never known her to do in all their long years of acquaintance- “I know you, **Tad, you're my friend!** ” Then she turned away, having stunned them both at displaying more emotion than either had thought themselves capable of. Feeling like that was supposed to be for other, less refined, less restrained gems. It was hard to imagine, what it could be doing, coming out of a jewel such as this one.

After a moment of silence; "Bill, I'm listening." Tad stretched out a hand, not quite touching the other’s shoulder.

Bill asked, "Are you?" Not moving.

Whilst smiling ever so slightly, Tad sighed. "It's what I do."

Bill returned with a cheerful grin. "And you're good at it too!"

“ **I do have a plan** ,” she sung, “ **it starts with staging a coup-** “

Tad threw up her hands and stalked away. "Oh no, I'm out of here." She only stopped right when she reached the door she’d entered through.

Left alone beside the window, Bill placed a hand on the cool, invisible wall. It was honestly formed to be so clear that there was no actual way of detection for the window save physically touching it. And Bill’s active form was only really a hard light projection, after all, emitted from her true essence of being, the golden yellow gemstone she possessed in lieu of a right eye. This she then pressed up against the transparency pane, feeling it flatten inwards her pointy hair and rest hard up against the side of her nose. “ **I'm finished listening to her, and I'm finished listening to you** ,” she sang softly again, looking out that window for the first and last times. “ **Done with what I've been told, now I can know something new** ,” she couldn’t help the smile that flew to her face, unbidden, at the thought. “ **Because I've listened enough, now I've fin'lly listened to me** ,” she didn’t turn to look at Tad, although she knew she was still there, listening. Honestly, she wasn’t entirely sure what her friend would do. But that was half the fun. Wasn’t it? “ **And everything in me wants to say honestly, that all this** ,” she exhaled and the breath misted up the glass and ruined the view, forcing her to turn away and announce with all pomp and grandeur her breed of grinning determination would allow; “ **Listening is hell, and I want to be free!** ”

After that, Tad seemed oddly- well, not oddly, she was normally far too careful and restrained, but not around _her_ , not after all this time. “Whyever do you want to be free so bad, anyway? What about power? You want that too, I know you do, so is freedom really worth giving that up? After all, we're stronger together..." she sounded fragile, like she was grasping at straws, though she wasn’t really, everything she said was true.

Bill asked; "Me and you?" An ironic smile graced her face, because she knew what the other was going to say.

"And the Great Diamond Authority,” was the only answer Tad could give.

Bill circled the room slowly, her pace significantly clipped as melancholy overtook her once more. “ **I've been thinking 'bout you** ,” she murmured. “ **I've been thinking 'bout me** , I ain't given one moment's thought to her because she's not worthy of two,” Bill scoffed, grinding her heel into the impossibly polished foot hard enough to leave inch deep scuff marks. Served Yellow Diamond right. “ **Now I know what I need. And I know what I'll do, that is** ,” she took a deep breath once more.

“ **Be my own Billmond**...” The pale fog she’d left on the window pane had faded, leaving a flawless view once more.

“ **I need to be my own Billmond**.” Below, the constant glow of the crystal city was enlivened by the shining streaks of rockets, capsules and skyships flashing through town.

“ **I've got to be my own Billmond**.” Beyond that, a ring of asteroid rocks were floating on by, casting dim shadows on the few blocks that weren’t lit up bright enough on their own.

“ **I want to be my own Billmond**...” And the stars, they still glittered coldly, looking so distant even as they sat within gem technology’s greedy reach.

As Bill’s last note finally drifted off into silence, Tad spoke. "I'm fighting a losing battle here, aren't I,” she observed. There was no question in it, not at all, not anymore.

Bill turned again and grinned for the trillionth time, and Tad’s last. "'Fraid so."

Tad touched the switch for the door, and cold air was whisked into the large but at that point stifling room. "... I'll be in the thinking spire, Bill,” she said, and left.

 

* * *

 

 

“ **So I say what I'll do, and I'll do as I say**.”

Bill dropped into the cockpit, sliding long legs down to press against pedals while her fingers flicked rapidly away at the interactive green screen, tangling in a dance she’d never had to perform before, but hell if she wasn’t getting a kick out of it now. “Go, go, go!” she hollered, whooping and laughing as the security hurdles melted away and her ship kicked off the ground with a mighty blast of the engines, no doubt leaving a nasty scorch mark behind, but for Bill, that was just the icing on the cake. And the other crafts she blew up on the way? The sprinkles. But while both additions were sweet, it was the flying far, far, far away that was finally going to satisfy her wild spirit.

“ **And I will somehow succeed, and I'll go my own way**.” None of it would be complete without a song, of course, so her voice rang out, loud and clear and bold as brass, while Homeworld quickly shrunk and was swallowed by the vast dark blur of hyperspace out the spaceship’s window. Bill had known this to be the fastest technology they had to offer, but she was still mildly impressed. The losers giving chase didn't have a prayer of catching up, let alone catching Bill. “ **Who knows where I'll go, and who knows what I'll do** ,” she smiled in exhilaration, as everything she once knew faded away. “ **I'm my own Billmond now, I don't have to listen to you** ,” a mock-salute was offered to her dear old diamond, even though she was lightyears out of sight, now.

“ **I'll do what I want, and what I want I'll do**.” An infinite road trip, that was the plan. She glanced over to check her supplies- yep, more than enough mind-altering substance to get her to, well, wherever the hell the universe offered. Whatever there was, she’d take it. Bill wanted to see, and have, it all.

The universe was shooting by and she grinned her maniacal grin.

“ **I'm going to GET MY WAY**.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: we're gonna have fun


	2. Time We Had Fun (All The Stars)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the first day of summer, and a good sister will make sure she and her brother spend it right... beside that alien spaceship oh my fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Recommended listening: chorus of Not Today by Twenty One Pilots. That's more or less what I wrote this to, at least...

A strange pair struggled up over the top of the hill. One was practically dragging his heels into the soggy green grass and the dirt, while the other was only tied down by her grip on the first's hand; without it the second would surely zoom off into the distance with the pace her legs were working at.

"Come on Dipper, it's like your feet haven't even gotten out of bed yet," she laughed as she skipped along, with all of the force and determination of an incensed bulldog behind her springing steps.

He countered with, "They wish they hadn't," and reluctantly stumbled forward, trying to catch up to her stride with his slightly shorter legs. His sister had, to his great and poorly concealed chagrin, just surpassed him in height that spring. Not that the boy could properly keep up with her before; sometimes he swore she had to be composed of pure sugar crystals. Honestly, he'd tried to broach the topic with their grunkles on multiple occasions, specifically wanting to theorize with Grunkle Ford... However, every time, the old man would turn all shifty, ask Dipper his age again, grow a pleading yet somehow still gruff expression, and mumble, "Not yet, not yet," repeatedly, until Dipper threw his hands into the air and gave up.

Dipper would declare humans to be weird, but he had yet to see any evidence of other aliens being what he'd deem 'normal', either, so he couldn't.

"Where's your enthusiasm, your spirit for adventure, Dippin' Dots?" his sister pouted, stopping at the edge of the cliff.

"Back in the house with my research, where you forced me to leave it," he grumbled, although his eyes softened as soon as he looked out over the ocean, towards the rising sun.

Mabel straightened her floaty skirt and flopped down onto the grass, unmindful of its intense dampness attribute. "Phooey," she gave a giggle and a snort. "How are Grunkle Ford's dusty old books 'adventure'? What universe was your head stuck in this time, GMP21?" she put on a ridiculous deep, teasing tone that made his nose crinkle.

"GN-z11, and it's a galaxy," he corrected her automatically, before he could even think to stop himself.

She snickered again and punched him on the leg, since he was still standing. "You nerd."

Rubbing at his arm and trying to convince himself he hadn't felt a thing, Dipper frowned. "Remind me why you dragged me up here again." He refused to endure the slimy sensation of wet grass on his butt.

Mabel looked about to say something, her mouth was open and her tongue on the verge of moving. But then when she looked up at him, something in her froze. And she just smiled, pulling herself up by his arm until she was standing again.

Then she reached into the pink, star-shaped gem embedded in the center of her chest and withdrew... What folded out into a large cardboard box. "Ta-da!" she exclaimed, presenting it to her brother with a twirl of her wrists.

His lips twitched. "Seriously, Mabel? This was your big plan?"

"Of course! You know what day it is, bro-bro," she grinned back as he only pretended to groan, and pushed at his shoulders. "Get in!"

"This better not be a repeat of last time," he warned her, knees still stubbornly not bending.

Mabel rolled her eyes. "Little brother, you worry too much. We're gonna do this, ride it all the way to the bottom and no further, promise. Then  we can camp outside the Big Doughnut until it opens for breakfast, and then we'll hit the mall- no, Funland- whichever has more cute boys-"

"Mabes, is this gonna take the whole day?" Dipper complained, looking mildly upset at the idea.

"Yeah, and **you know why**?" she asked, eyes giving off a dogged shine, while a tune began to carry in her tone. " **It's time we had fun** ," Mabel hummed, lower, while less than gently coercing her overly cautious brother into the front seat (as far as a cardboard box offered). " **You know what, I think we need fu-un**."

More focused on not getting them both killed or worse, reduced to vegetative states than on Mabel's song, Dipper warily climbed inside. His nerves were showing as he crossed and uncrossed his legs, finally settling on his original position with his knees bent up to his chest, and fingers digging into the card at the front.

" **You know all there is we could ever need is right here, if** ," Mabel smiled to the clear, blue sky before hopping in behind her brother; " **you don't forget fun**." And with a small blast of energy behind her from both of her hands, they were off, rocketing down the slope at high speed, screaming all the way.

They collapsed in a rumpled, grass-stained heap at the bottom of the hill, with a safe meter margin between them and the road, this time. Last year, Mabel had hyped herself up on Mabel Juice beforehand, and the result had been them shooting over the entire street, flying right in front of the face of incoming traffic. Of course, their skinned knees had healed pretty quickly, but one car did swerve and bend the, 'Beware of children' sign all off kilter.

Dipper was laying on his back and still breathing heavily, possibly trying not to laugh as Mabel sat up dizzily, hair a puffy mess. " **Oh, it's been a long time** ," she beamed at the wreck of a cardboard box around them. " **Oh, ain't that such a cri-ime**." She spotted the police car of Sheriff Blubs and Deputy Durland parked nearby and wondered it was because they'd checked their calendar... She gave them a cheerful wave and squealed delightedly when they waved back. **"Oh, you'd think our lives might be complete** ," Mabel stood, stretching happily, and helped her brother up. " **If we only, had a dime more fun**."

"Didn't I spend all of Saturday helping you with your scrapbooking?" Dipper sighed, pushing himself up onto his tip-toes as he tried to get a better view of the doughnuts in the display case from outside the store window.

Mabel slapped the back of his head lightly. "Not good enough!" Then she pointed excitedly inside the shop as a girl came out of the backroom with the last streaming tray.

She didn't miss the way her brother's cheeks blued and he quickly fixed his clothes, shoving his cap down further to help his floppy fringe hide his gem (located on his forehead) from sight.

"You got some grass," she giggled, brushing it off his shoulders, only serving to increase his state of fluster.

"Whatever! Let's just go in," he tried to ignore Mabel by pushing into the store, only to get jokingly berated by the girl at the counter that they didn't open til they switched the sign on the door.

"Wait! Dip, chill dude, it's cool," the redheaded doughnut dealer had to reassure him as he tried to turn around and leave, while Mabel could just not stop laughing.

" **So you know now, summer's just begun** ," Mabel sung as they left the shop, hot breakfast treats in hand. " **What we'll do, is have lots of fu-un** ," she promised Dipper with a surprise poke, just as he gave his jelly doughnut a petulant lick.

He dropped his breakfast, but she managed to catch it before it hit the ground. " **It's been too long, since we spent an honest day together, so** ," she threw a grand gesture towards the big shining sign of Funland, and declared, " **now we'll have that fun**."

Dipper just took his doughnut back and finished it big bites this time, despite its just-cooked heat.

Mabel watched him in the arcade, playing some testosterone-powered fighting game she wasn't familiar with... Apparently called Fight Fighter. She took the moment to lean back against the wall and sing quietly to herself, " **Sometimes, I don't know what to think... Some nights, you won't sleep a wi-ink**." She flicked her long brown hair behind an ear and glanced out the window at the still-clear sky. " **And I wake only to see you still staring, at the stars** ," her eyes seemed to search for something, out there in the vast blue nothing. " **Like I was out for a blink**..."

A pair of boys her age were fumbling with some quarters at a machine near by, but for once, she neglected them in favor of jamming her own coin into the nearest game, Road Killer, as it happened. " **I wish you'd talk, to me like we used to**." Pixelated roads rushed by, but she didn't really see them. " **I wish you'd walk, outside like you used to**." Mabel was remembering how she'd found her brother this morning, shut up in his room breathing the same stuffy air he had been for three days at least, still pouring over those old papers...  " **I wish you'd look around with your eyes filled with wonder, at the Earth** ," her car slid off the road and began to burn and crash, in that order. " **The way that you used to**."

"Mabes, Mabes, play this one with me!" Dipper's voice broke her out of her ruminations.

Now humming along to the sound of her poorly rendered car dying, she called back; "Coming Dipples!" Then skipped over to join him at Meat Beat Mania.

He was blushing bright blue and practically hissed at her, "Mabel, don't EVER call me that!"

She grinned just a little sheepishly. Maybe that had been a little too far. "Yeah okay, I hear you."

Dipper lost the game, of course, not standing a chance in Mabel's domain of dance, and as per the usual terms and conditions of their arcade challenge, he had to go struggle with holding and counting up all their tickets. In the meantime, she just watched, laughed, and finished her song under her breath. " **But it's okay, for now we'll have fun** ," she mumbled. " **Because now, it's time we had fu-un**."

There was a moment when the tickets slipped out of his fingers, just as his doughnut had this morning. The same glazed look overtook his eyes, sparkling river green turning dull like a fallen leaf as he fell into distraction. " **And all the stars the sky has to offer you** ," her voice broke on the high note as she tried to keep her voice out of earshot. " **Couldn't stop me if they tried**..."

Dipper blinked, color returning to his eyes as he yawned and rubbed them. "Ah, sorry Mabes, I should- I should get some more sleep," he admitted, starting to count the tickets from the beginning again.

She nodded and gave a small smile in understanding, before looking away. " **When I know** ," Mabel sighed, " **you need to have fun."**

They headed towards the prize corner in the arcade, chattering idly about the games, laughing over the corny Teens of Rage- it featured a character of uncanny resemblance to a moody teen with an unfortunate skin-condition that they knew- when Dipper stopped, cocking his head to one side. "Mabel..."

She listened for a moment, then nodded, "I hear it!" And the two rushed outside.

At first they saw nothing, and then they were both at once pointing at a little white speck in the sky, which exponentially grew until its glare was consuming everything, even overwhelming the sun. There was an ultimate, all-enveloping flash of bright light, then only a trail of fire left blazing across the sky. Finally, a distant shake and rumble of impact.

The rolls of tickets Dipper and Mabel had collected were left abandoned on the floor.

 

* * *

 

The site was giving off such an immense volume of black smoke that the siblings were honestly surprised to be the first ones at the scene. They were lucky they were, however, because as soon as Dipper saw it, he grabbed the other gem's shoulder to halt her and steady himself. Dipper then pointed down at the grass, scorched black and grey with all the water baked out, so that it flaked away into the breeze as ash with just a touch from their feet. The stern expression on his face was undermined by the way his eyes were aflame with excitement.

Much like the crater, only rather than a nautical blue-green, the actual fire was a typical searing yellow-white, or perhaps something too fierce to be described as anything but heat and light. The actual pit was rather small, only about the size of a small house, but three meters deep, with a very steep slope. The two crouched on the edge and peered inside, and if the charcoal-transmuting effect on the grass wasn't evidence enough, the large, spherical spaceship in the center really sold the alien deal. It was also bright yellow, in a paint job that seemed to have braved the trials of the Earth's atmosphere in a way the shredded wing extensions clearly had not, as they lay strewn around in burning tatters.

While both teens held their breath, Mabel tore her eyes from it to glance at her brother, but his gaze was wholly taken by the sight, stare locked and unable to break away. All he could manage to move was his lips to say, "But there's no way anyone could survive through that and still-"

With a resounding, metallic clash, something seemed to slam from inside the craft, trapping the words inside Dipper's throat. Then a section of the yellow shell peeled away, and through the dark, billowing smoke, the pair watched a shape clearly humanoid in form climb out and stand on top of the smoldering wreck of a spaceship.

Mabel gasped, and inhaling the smog caused her to sharply expel a series of coughs, eyes watering, while Dipper grabbed the back of her sweater and forced them both low and out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to the absolute gems who left kudos, subscribed, and the one brave soul who even dared comment, pffft~ I'm very happy that you did! I want to try and post regularly this time every week. I should be capable of that much, so in your hearts please hold me to it!
> 
> On this topic, I have a story I started earlier that I'm now being forced to post the short first chapter of (or else AO3 will delete the poor thing), that's not a musical and called Not A Demon. It's probably more interesting to read but it's much harder to write, and so surely won't be regular... It's also rated M for mostly good reasons so check it out if that sounds like your speed.
> 
> As for this story! Next chapter: there's so much, you just don't know~


	3. You Don't Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is not the encounter you were looking for(ward to)...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I Don't Know: what I was thinking! This is kind of like Steven Universe's Giant Woman tune-wise, I think? With rap-ish parts? *big shrug* Also, if you haven't already realized exactly how silly this fic is, now's the time...  
> Please excuse any sloppy editing, it's late!

The moments began to pile up, tight-packed and suffocating, as each second seemed to try and stuff five more inside itself. Their lengths were bloated and weighed on the two twins like physical bricks in their suspense. But the moments inevitably did march on, and there was nothing, no sign of change. And Dipper quickly lost interest in the crisply cooked state of the grass tickling his face. He had to look.

While Mabel struggled to get her coughing under control and stay silent, he inched forward. Pulling his cap down low over his head for cover, he shuffled towards the edge on his forearms and knees and stole another stare at the strange visitor to Earth.

The figure on the ship was bathed in yellow flame, cloaked in thick black smoke. Thin and striking the character stood, and Dipper could make out individual features of the silhouette, like slim but rounded hips, sharply pointed shoulders, a flick of shining hair, perhaps disordered from the crash. But he needed to be closer still-

Only to be yanked backwards harshly by the back of his collar. The face that looked down on him was grim and stiff, grey in the hair and in the pallid, frightened tone of its skin. Dipper recognized it instantly and relaxed, thus inadvertently allowing himself to be led away. That certainly wasn’t what he desired, as he stared longingly after the crater, but it was his Grunkle Ford. What else could he do? One look at the devastated site and it was obvious they weren’t supposed to be here like this, not in their guardians’ book. They had to be in enough trouble already, he thought.

But a quick glance to the right presented the other option: Mabel was quietly kicking and squirming in Grunkle Stan’s grip, struggling as she was being pulled along with even less ceremony than her brother was. Despite his age, Stan was made with a particularly robust build, and the amount Mabel was able to delay them by would have been impressive if it wasn’t for the alien superpowers Dipper knew her to be not using. She was still making every other effort to remain at the side of the crater.

Having deposited Dipper a little enough distance away, Ford went over to aid his twin, and boy did he have a few words for Mabel. ” **Get back!** ” he shouted anxiously, just low enough to be sure they wouldn’t carry too far. “ **You don't know what's hit us.** ”

“But Grunkle Stan, Ford,” Mabel whined, waving her hands at the fantastic yellow haze of the crash site. It was a breath-taking view by any measure, and no one could fault her for wanting to appreciate it, right?

“ **Get back!** ” he repeated urgently, grabbing her other purple sweater sleeved hand and meeting her eyes with an entreating look, his own eyes shining almost like- well, not a puppy’s, but a melancholic old dog’s, maybe. Mabel’s big kind heart didn’t have much chance resisting _that_. “ **Don't you know it's dangerous?** ”

Ford did look up to drink in the sight for a few solemn moments, before exchanging a grim look with his twin brother, eyes narrowing. “ **Get back! There's something we have to discuss. So step on that warp pad and stop making a fuss!** ” The two of them pushed the two young gems in the direction of the grey teleportation disk sitting at a convenient distance on the quiet hillside, which was how all of them had gotten there so fast.

” **And by that we mean we're gonna ground you** ,” Stan put in helpfully, leaning over both of them with a sorely displeased expression, but also a pinch of the twisted satisfaction that only comes from having others suffer. And wait, was that the tune of ‘Do You Want To Build A Snowman’...?

Mabel was quick to protest. "Grunkle Stan!" Dipper just looked resigned and a little bit offended by the strong suspicion he had that his grunkles were about to seriously start singing. His sister had been one thing that morning, she had a really lovely voice, but this? Sometimes he thought he’d do anything to come from a family less musically-inclined.

Stan answered her with a churlish mutter, “Don’t even start, Mabel. **Yeah, we're gonna ground you** ,” he continued, causing Dipper to sigh and give one last desperate look at the spaceship before the slope stole it from view, “ **And if we have to, we'll impound you** ,” the tone then changed to match Ford’s earlier, demanding march. “ **'Cause we've got plenty of chain, and something's wrong with your brain, if it let you within a mile of that damn plane!** ”

“Don’t rap, sing it!” Mabel looked affronted by this turn of events for all the wrong reasons, in Dipper’s opinion. They were being scolded in song and the delivery was not what he’d have chosen to get worked up about.

With a fond ruffle of the hair, Stan groaned but indulged her. “ **You know you two I'll admit I'm confused** ,” he started to sing, gruffly but in tune. “ **Call me thick but yeah I'm bemused. To have heard, you'd be so daft; to hazard, an alien spacecraft.** ”

Ford had the more soulful voice between the two of him, so when with an arm thrown over Stanley’s shoulders he joined in, the song really picked up. “ **There's so much you just don't know** ,” he looked down specifically at Dipper, who felt the heat rise up his cheeks in the way it only could when facing the shame of unfair disappointment from a person one truly looked up to. “ **And I think this goes to show** ,” he gave a sweeping gesture to the scene of impact. “ **You're not ready for it yet, you get back and we'll handle the threat.** ”

For Dipper, being dismissed like that stung, but his sister was feeling quite a different effect.  “Woop woop! Yeah, sing it!” she cheered, totally distracted from the whole alien deal. A good song would win her heart any and every day.

Dipper shook his disbelieving head at Mabel, while his feet continued to be steered forward unwillingly. “How can you be into this, they’re awful singers!” He complained to her under his breath. “It sounds like sandpaper and cigarettes tried to start a choir… Not to mention it’s about grounding us!”

She shrugged, beaming. “I can’t help it if it’s catchy!” She did a little dance along to imaginary music.

Dipper put a hand to his forehead and the cool of his gem. “Ugh.”

It took Ford a record of about two minutes to forgive Mabel out of hand. “ **OK, Mabel you're excused, but Dipper, I would have refused,** ” he put a hand on one coat-clad hip and raised one big bushy eyebrow, “ **To believe you such a fool, to forget our one, golden rule!** ”

Stan chimed in with the reminder: “ **You get wind of something factual-** “

Ford finished his sentence: “ **That you perceive might be unnatural, then!** ”

“Here it comes,” Dipper couldn’t help but mutter, before his grunkles _both_ started singing _together_. Or rather, _rapping_ , since that was what the delivery of the next stanza most closely resembled-

“ **Get back! Then you run without delay, get back! You have to run, go far away-** “ In the midst of this, Dipper exchanged a rather miserable look with his now less-than musically bewitched sister. It was clear that both of them wanted little more to get to the literal bottom of the newly discovered crater while it was still hot and smoking, but what could they do? Sneaking around their grunkles’ backs was one thing, but physically fighting them off? That was another. The old guys had delicate back situations and someone could easily get hurt. The gems’ hands were tied, if not literally. “ **Get back! Call your grunkles on the phone, else you may never come home! So…** ”

Dipper and Mabel could only resign themselves to leaving their crashed dreams about fallen spaceships behind, the beckoning shine of the warp pad never seeming so unfriendly as they were pushed off the soft green of the grass and onto its steel sheen.

Their grunkles sang the entire time, that unfairly cheerful tune; “ **Maybe our logic will astound you. But there's no denying how we found you** ,” the jerky motions with which Stan gestured towards the crash scene spoke some volumes of how angry the man was at their insurmountable measures of curiosity and carelessness.

“ **And if you dare to complain, you must be wholly insane** ,” Ford tapped a finger to his temple to hammer the point home, just as the panel they all stood on began to glow a pale blue and they were all zapped up in a stream of light. “ **We've enough evidence, to see you've no sense** ,” they all rematerialized almost instantaneously in the temple’s living room, to the great and poorly-masked disappointment of both teenagers. “ **Since you approached that space-plane!** ”

If the familiar surroundings of the Pines family’s own home were supposed to act as a comforter, calming the storm of frustration that entered the temple with them, then it did poorly. Stan just seemed more worked up about it the more space and time he was given. “ **I would have thought the danger blatant** ,” he started pacing around the sagging couches, movements shaky and pointedly restrained, with emphasis on the strain. Stan didn’t do well with keeping things boxed up. He liked it all out in the air, so out it would have to go. “ **But clearly your logic powers are latent** ,” singing he pointed with a flick at Dipper’s cap; “ **If there was a head, under all of that hat; you would have stayed back!** ”

Guilt made the blue-green gem’s stomach twist in a way that had nothing to do with the digestive processes with that doughnut from earlier. But at the same time, other things made his fists clench, fingernails dig into his palms, teeth grind against each other. Like when Grunkle Ford sung with such an infuriatingly pretentious way; “ **There's so much you just don't know** ,” as if Dipper didn’t already know _that_. “ **And I think this goes to show** ,” but they’d barely managed to see anything, scarcely caught a glimpse of the figure in the fire and smoke-! “ **You're not ready for it yet** ,” now Dipper respected his great uncle’s opinion greatly, but he was quickly beginning to realize this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity here! “ **You stay back and we'll handle the threat** ,” Ford patted him on the head, squishing the hard edges of the cap against Dipper’s temples, as the boy looked up at his grunkle in growing resentment.

“ **I know you're young but don't be so dareful** ,” Ford lectured them both now, and Mabel, who had mostly been humming along, was prodded into attention too. “ **I'm telling you now that you need to be careful** ,” Mabel made a face and Dipper felt a rush of gratitude towards her. She, who had always been happier with the way things were, ordinarily in their daily lives, was also far too proactive to forget about a seismic event like this. “ **If you don't obey and keep your distance,** ” Ford warned, looking between each of their unconvinced expressions, “ **You could be wiped from this plane of existence!** ”

Neither twins were inclined to take his advice., and when agreement wasn’t forthcoming, the two soon found themselves being herded through the twisted temple corridors, whilst subject to both their grunkles' singing voices; “ **There's so much you just don't know, and it's clear this goes to show; you're not ready for it yet, you get back and we'll handle the threat…** ”

Ford seemed to select a door at random, it was opened and the kids were shown, or rather pushed inside. Once this was achieved, Ford seemed to leave in a hurry while Stan stalled to sing them a few last lines. “ **Kids, trust me, 'cause I know** ,” he said lowly, hand hovering on the doorknob, “ **One more step and you'll only regret** ,” it twisted in his grip, as did his expression, “ **Ruining the status quo...** ”

And he shut the door behind him, succeeded by the lock clicking noisily.

The two gems looked at each other, then the musty, termite-bitten room, lit more by the thick shafts of light squeezing through the boarded up window and not the sputtering, defective bare bulb hanging from the ceiling. It was one of those rooms Ford had barely bothered wiring up years ago, then forgotten. Normally he would store only old papers he didn’t care about in here, not his teenaged charges. This had to be their worst grounding yet, worse even than the sinking television incident. Who knows how long that door would remain tightly shut-

The door swung open and Soos lumbered in. He wore a friendly smile, like nothing was out of place as he greeted them. “Oh, hey dudes! The Mr Pineses asked me to watch you two. I was so psyched when I heard that, dudes. I was beginning to think I’d fixed up this snazzy set of binoculars for nothing!” He presented them with a pair with goofy eyes stuck over the lenses. “Check ‘em out!”

“Oohhh!” Mabel gasped and complimented him, while Dipper just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I can’t believe it! They totally freaked about us just being _near_ the impact site, now Grunkle Ford’ll never give me a chance to investigate it,” he complained, and when his sister seemed on the fence about joining in, Dipper continued willfully, “Seriously, we can’t just stay shut up here and let the first and possibly only chance in our lifetime of making contact with real, actual live extraterrestrial beings just pass us by! They think it’s so dangerous, they might just destroy without even giving a proper look! If Grunkle Stan has his way, we might never see anything more than the dusty remains of where a spaceship used to be.” He trusted that his great uncle Ford would want more than anything to study this, but he didn’t trust that he’d let his great nephew in on it too…

This seemed to strike a chord with the pink gem, as her eyes grew wide as if stretched by horror. “Yeah, they’re going to be the worst ambassadors for humankind like ever! How can they represent us without sparkles, unicorns and love?” Mabel asked indignantly. She flopped her long sweater sleeves and a cloud of glitter puffed out, causing everyone else in the room to cough- now by her own description, she was the obvious right answer to the job.

A loud snort issued from Soos, much to the siblings’ surprise. At their curious looks, he explained; “Oh, it’s just the last thing the Mr Pineses agreed on was getting you two out of there. Now they’re arguing in the study and they haven’t disagreed on something this bad since, oh my god, it must have been that time with the chainsaw and the can of chunky beef soup!”

Dipper couldn’t seem to remember that particular incident, but he wasn’t going screw up his face or contort his brain trying. “So you’re saying,” he tried to confirm by speaking slowly, but he had such a surplus of nervous energy that it was harder to manage anything under twice as fast as usual, “They’re not even going to do anything soon and if we sneak out now we might still catch the aliens first?”

“Well yeah, on one condition,” Soos shared a conspiratorial look with them, “You have to bring me along too, dawgs. I said I’d watch you didn’t I?”

The two gems exchanged an excited glance. “Soos, you’re the best,” they both told him, and Dipper hugged him while Mabel clapped him on the back perhaps a little too enthusiastically, judging by the resultant, “Ow.”

“Here’s to our first encounter with an actual real live alien!” Dipper declared, before correcting himself awkwardly, complete with jumpy hand motions between him and his sister, “I mean, other than the obvious, not born on Earth, you know?”

To his relief, Mabel and Soos cheered in spite of his slightly wanting delivery. “Let’s go give ‘em the greatest, most sparkly welcoming ever, it’ll be so good, the thought of leaving won’t even cross their mind!” That part was purely Mabel.

“Because of sustained brain damage from all that sparkle?” Dipper couldn’t help but ask.

Mabel shook her head, a brown blanket of hair following suit. “Silly brother! If anything, it’ll cure any damage received from that awful crash!” she insisted.

That was a good point. As Soos quietly spun the doorknob open, and the trio tiptoed out of the room, Dipper wondered if the alien they’d so briefly seen didn’t need a couple of foolish, rebellious teens, but instead, serious medical help.

In retrospect, Dipper shouldn’t have worried so much about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter: what is this, and where am I? Last I remember I was flying high~


	4. What World Is This [Part 1]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mystery twin mode Dipper, glitter party indulgence while on the sly, gem power shenanigans, and a whole lot of smoke. Sneaking around has never been so easy. Also, say hi to Bill (sort of).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter doesn't include a song, it was supposed to, but getting there ended up taking too long! So I decided to split it into two instead of a really long thing next week. In any case, hope anybody reading does enjoy~  
> Abandon realism with me~!

As the three approached the study, raised voices could be heard, words muffled through the walls but the spirit of frustration unmistakably clear. Dipper, who had been leading the way, stopped at the corner and held out an arm behind him to keep the others back. He tried to listen, strained to catch some substance, but just then the conversation had thinned, silence spreading.

He turned and tried to mouth out and mime his intentions, but his companions clearly weren’t getting any of it, since Mabel had misunderstood his instructions to mean, ‘Let it rain glitter’, somehow. Soos was absorbed with trying to see how much he could catch in his mouth.

Dipper did an impression of a much older man bringing a palm to his face without actually slapping himself. “Guys! You stay here, I’ll scout ahead,” he hissed at them, as quietly as possible.

The glitter-fest was put on hold for Mabel to stare worriedly at her brother, hands full of the flashy but apparently edible stuff still in the air and slowly leaking. “Are you sure, bro-bro?” she whispered, between licking sparkles off the side of her cheek. “Soos could-“

But he didn’t wait to hear her idea, stepping around the corner and out of sight.

“Woah. Dude’s sure got more energy now,” Soos observed, sticking his head around the turn and blinking in surprise when he saw no one in sight.

Mabel watched the glitter flutter down out of her hands. They left little pin-pricks of light scattered all over the rough timber floor, shining up at her like so many tiny, twinkling stars. “He’s always been like that about, well, everything outer space…”

 

* * *

 

As soon as he was hidden from his sister and Soos’ point of view, Dipper took a deep breath, pressing himself up against the side of the wall, and concentrated. He drew his forearms up in front of his body and lowered them slowly, exhaling. He saw through his fingers before they finished passing his eyes.

Looking down, most of his torso was invisible, but from his knees he began to phase back into visual existence, with his feet looking entirely solid, and he knew from the lack of tingling that his head was also.

He tried harder, pressing his hand into the wood at his back until the throbbing built up so much that Dipper really thought he might be murdering his hand with splinters. But this time, when he opened his eyes, he saw nothing at all. The heavily grooved wood beneath his feet, sure, sprinkled with specks of glitter, but nothing more. If he bent his head over enough, he could see straight behind him, through where his chest should be, without ever turning around.

Dipper only realized he was grinning when he wondered why his cheeks were starting to ache. He quickly dropped that, and started to sneak forwards, the first steps always being the hardest, until he remembered one last thing.

His hat. Its rim was still biting into a large chunk of his vision. Dipper took it off his head and stared for a moment, at its blue and white design. Unlike the rest of his clothes, the cap wasn’t part of his form; it was an object of nylon and polyester from this world, like the things Mabel wore and… What everyone else did, too. He set it down on the floor, then padded carefully towards the study door on his invisible feet.

The door which suddenly flew open, one disgruntled grunkle quickly storming out. Ford stood in the corridor for a moment, regaining his composure, before noticing the hat.

Dipper stood stock-still, pressed up against the wall as Ford walked past, shoulder just barely missing the gem’s nose on the way. The man picked up the cap, sighed something indistinguishable, then walked back past Dipper and into a room to the right, the beach shop.

Ford made for a strange sight there, a dark, earthy mass of brown and grey amidst all the bright, enthused colors of summer by the sand and sea. It made sense that he didn’t want to linger, staying only enough time to hook up the hat with the others like it, then leaving through the front door. Dipper finally allowed himself to breathe as the bell rang on Ford's way out.

Edging back towards the other side of the corridor, Dipper peered into the study, where his other great uncle was busily digging through several of the drawers, searching for something. He was muttering something along the lines of, “… talking to the mayor, I can totally talk _old person_ … _Really_ old person!”

... What? His grunkles had argued about _that_? This alien thing had to be serious, then.

With a triumphant, “Aha!” Stan retrieved a roll of glossy yellow and black, and punched it into the air like a hero might a legendary sword, having slain a dragon or demon or something. It was “POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS” tape.

Dipper frowned, realizing the plan, and hastily stepped to the side as Stan followed his twin brother out, presumably to go rope off the crash site. This could make their mission a little more difficult. After restoring his own visibility, Dipper returned to Mabel and Soos to tell them about the turn in events.

 

* * *

 

By use of the shining crystalline warp pad in the center of the temple, it took only a split second, a stream of blue light rushing around them like a waterfall, and a noise like the chiming of gemstones for the three of them to disappear from their beachside home… And instantaneously rematerialize back on the pad on the hillside.

Having in his excitement forgotten all the fanfare that came with teleportation, Dipper scanned the green waves of grass warily- and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw his Grunkle Stan’s deep burgundy car, the Stanmobile, sitting pretty nearby.

However, he relaxed when no-one else was around to be seen, and Mabel tapped on his shoulder to remind him, “Grunkle Stan can’t take the warp pads normally, remember? He must have left his car here before,” she reasoned, and Dipper nodded, pleasantly surprised by her rationale.

“Aw dudes, that was so rad,” Soos was fawning over the warp pad, even though he must have seen and done it a thousand times by now. “Can we do it again?” he begged the gems. “Please?” his eyes sparkled like something out of an anime.

But as Mabel promised him, that would have to wait, since Dipper had jumped down off the gleaming platform and headed in the direction of the smell of burnt ozone. Like lightning, something soggy, ash, black toast and a whole cocktail of chlorine and other chemicals Dipper couldn’t identify. Honestly, the scent was a little bit of everything, and rather overwhelming, as the smog had spread all over the field and still seemed to be coming, though not in an obvious pillar as before. Fortunately, there was no great need for directions, given the breadth of the destruction. As soon as the group climbed a slope, the path to the crash site was clear.

And so too was the danger.

“Look!” Mabel pointed unnecessarily, “Stan!”

“What?” Dipper clamped down on his tongue to stop himself from cursing- because his sister hated that- as he stared at the distant figure in disbelief. “He shouldn’t be here already!”

Soos was watching with the kind of childish awe that would be best reserved for someone who wasn’t going to be in an immense amount of trouble if the guy in question caught up to them; “Dude walks FAST,” Soos observed, chuckling only a bit nervously, as the man steadily _and_ speedily approached, and might even see them if he looked up and to his left. Luckily Stan had his arm full of little stands with which to rope the area off, not to mention there was the masking quality of the crash's smoke, so he had anything but unobstructed vision.

Still. “Come on!” Dipper prodded them forward, towards the crash site, and when Mabel tried to point out the perils of doing so, with a worried, “What if-“, he interrupted, saying, “Let’s just get there first,” to which she agreed. They all really wanted to get there first.

So they ran, and made a bit of a race out of it. Mabel won of course, standing on the edge of the crater before anyone else, with huffing Dipper a close second. Soos naturally came in third, and fourth was… Soon going to be Stan. Who seemed to have sensed movement, even if he hadn't properly caught it, because he was calling out into the cloud of thick, black smoke that had descended and enveloped the area. “Who’s there? Don’t tell me it’s the damn alien on the loose…” he muttered, trying to squint and wave away the heavy, dirty air obscuring everything.

“Shit…” Mabel was struggling with the cough in the back of her throat, and Soos hadn’t a clue what to do, but was getting panicky as Stan got closer towards the crater, trying to glimpse the shape he’d half-seen again.

There was only one place to hide. So Dipper pushed, and the three of them half-jumped, half-rolled into the three-meter-deep pit, landing hard in a disorganized heap at the bottom.

He sat up, yanking a leg out from under someone else, and twisted his fingers painfully in the hope that Grunkle Stan hadn’t heard them over the low roar of spacecraft burning. His wish seemed to get answered, since peering upwards, the shadow overhead lingered just a few moments before retreating back, away from the edge and probably further.

Dipper heaved a sigh of relief. Then he saw it. Something was lying on the torn-up ground nearby, and it wasn’t burning debris. It was distinctly person-shaped. Ignoring Mabel’s choked-out warning, he edged closer, and closer, until he was leaning over the still unmoving body.

It had dark, black limbs, like the soot the field had been reduced to, and a bright yellow torso, that reminded Dipper of the searing light of the comet and the fires still dancing around them. In fact, the color scheme was reminiscent of the tape his Grunkle Stan was just that moment setting up around the crash site. Danger.

There were distinctly angular shoulders, a thin waist and only slightly wider hips, these were all things Dipper had seen of the silhouette on the spaceship. The parts were all a little thicker than Dipper’s own, but form was much longer, that much was apparent, the alien had to be at least a head taller if they were both standing.

The strangest part was perhaps the forearms, which were disproportionately bulky to the rest of the physique, as the lower legs were furnished in a sleek pair of boots. There appeared to be… An odd lack of hands, like big solid sleeves ending with only the fingers sticking out, only those were more like bright yellow claws.

Finally, Dipper studied the face. A pointy nose and chin, lips that seemed to smile unconsciously, a shapely eyebrow and fully-lashed eyelid… The other side was hidden by a chaotic mess of golden-blond hair, that looked so fine and soft and bothered Dipper so much that he just had to touch it, about to brush it aside-

He jerked back, pulling away just as the visible eye twitched and slowly opened, revealing an iris of vivid amber.

In his shock, Dipper had instinctively turned transparent, and when he looked over his shoulder, Mabel and Soos had disappeared around the side of the spaceship, probably not wanting to crowd the new visitor right off the bat. Actually, Dipper thought, more than slightly nervous and panicking now, maybe their grunkles’ idea had been right, and it would be best to first observe the alien’s behavior, and then determine the level of threat. He began to inch away, trying to avoid the blond stranger’s attention…

The alien leaped to their feet lithely, swiping the accumulation of dirt and ash off their back whilst making a weird expression; it came away cleanly, leaving them looking entirely too polished. And they started pacing about, taking big strides and examining the walls of the crater.

Safe for now, Dipper let go of his invisibility and slipped around the side of the crashed spaceship to join his friends out of view, breathing heavily. Mabel grabbed his hand, looking concerned, and was about to say something, possibly suggest backing off, when-

He heard it. They all did. A voice. It was… Singing, energetically, vibrant with a passionate quality it would be hard to match. “ **What is this?** ” Although perhaps fatigued and bewildered, it was still irrepressibly upbeat.

“ **Where am I? Last I remember I was flying high…** ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cough*  
> At this point it feels like I might write a hundred chapters about NEARLY meeting Bill, so thank god for my other fic X3 Speaking of, last week I updated just "NAD", this week is just "RSFS", next week may be either or both, but definitely one of them at least. This week's been my worst schedule-wise, so yeah.
> 
> First thing next chapter: actual song as advertised ha ha

**Author's Note:**

> This is entirely based off of Luna Art's Crystal Falls AU, so all credit to her fantastic art.  
> Plot here differs though, Bill is not Yellow Diamond, and so on, so don't get confused (ask questions if you do)!


End file.
